Macquarie Bank (MBL) Market Trading Update

Macquarie Bank (MBL) have a Buy 2 trading recommendation and a price target of $96 per share from analyst UBS. The Macquarie Bank consortium offers to buy Spirit Finance (NYSE:SFC) for $14.50 per share. MBL has announced that it will invest US$250m (A$320m) for a lead minority stake in a consortium to acquire SFC, a sale & leaseback investment trust. Its offer of US$14.50 ps values SFC at US$1.57b (EV US$3.5b), representing a PE of 13x (2007E consensus) and 1.6x book. SFC may solicit superior proposals until 9th April. Spirit Finance (NYSE:SFC) is US real estate investment trust focusing on the sale & leaseback. Its investment portfolio is US$2.8b, incl 1,034 properties from 145 customers in 43 states. Properties include general retail (28%), restaurants (22%), specialty retail (10%) as well as cinemas, car yards & other single tenant properties. It has seen strong EPSg, but an underperforming share price (detailed financials within). Further rollout of MBL's seed asset/ specialist fund model; Macquarie Bank has seen an acceleration of its seed asset recycling, selling A$1.3b of assets and acquiring a new A$1b in the 4 months to January the investment bank intends to incubate & restructure its SFC investment on its Balance Sheet before selling it to a MBL specialist fund. Positives for the bank: (1) International growth & diversification (2) Balance Sheet inventory underpins earnings (3) ahead of peers on Specialist Funds. Risks for Macquarie Bank: (1) Moving up risk/return curve with bigger positions (2) Macro factors. Price target is SOTP based.

Macquarie Bank Limited is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) under stock code MBL. You can view their investor website here. MBL was listed on the ASX on 29 July, 1996. David Clarke is the chairman of Macquarie Bank and the managing director is Allan E Moss. The company is involved in investment Banking, Banking and Financial Services. Macquarie is a diversified international provider of financial and investment banking services, headquartered in Sydney, Australia. Macquarie Bank evolved from Hill Samuel Australia Limited, which was established in 1969 as a subsidiary of the UK merchant bank, Hill Samuel & Co. In 1985, a banking licence was acquired and operations began under the name Macquarie Bank. In 1996, Macquarie Bank’s fully paid ordinary shares were quoted on the Australian Stock Exchange. In Australia, Macquarie is a full-service investment bank providing financial market trading and advisory products and services. In the Asia-Pacific region, the Bank provides a broad range of investment banking services and in the Americas, Europe, Africa and the Middle East, it focuses on particular business areas in which its expertise delivers value to clients. Macquarie has reported successive years of record profits and growth since 1992, and now employs over 10,000 people in 24 countries. Find out the meaning of the recommendations in this primer. Browse for other stockbroker recommendations. You can use Instalment Warrants to trade MBL. Check your charts and good luck with your share trading!